Mariana Nesbitt
Mariana Nesbitt comes from Cape Town, South Africa. She and Jim studied at the Bible Institute of South Africa, then she later did a B. Th at the University of South Africa, UNISA, majoring in Missiology and Communication. She completed an M. Th in Missiology in 2007 at the South African Theological Seminary (SATS), “Japanese Ancestor Practices: a Contextualized Teaching Tool on the Afterlife in the Local Church.”
She and Jim went to Japan with OMF International in 1972 and Mariana assisted Jim as Superintendent of the Language School, did personal evangelism, and taught many Bible studies over the 25 years she was in Japan. Mariana also used her artistic skills, teaching Japanese friends, and presented a few evangelistic Silk Painting exhibitions.
Lately her attention has turned to culture, research and writing. She is busy on a book aimed at using Japanese culture to enable our ministry and mission to be less foreign and more Japanese.
Mariana and Jim have 2 adult children; one living in Cape Town, one living in the UK – they have 4 grandsons. At present she and her husband are involved in a new church plant in Somerset West, near Cape Town.